Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 567 -

*Natalia*

I wept the entire drive home after my all-too-brief meeting with Tallon. I managed to hold it together until I got to the car because I didn't want the guards to see me so vulnerable, but the moment I was safe in the back seat, I fell apart. I was thankful that my driver pretended not to notice. I don't know how I would have reacted if he asked me if I was okay. How could I be okay after seeing Tallon under these conditions?

Seeing him in that damned prison uniform was almost too much for me to stomach. They were treating him like some common criminal, and he was anything but. It was like a bad dream that had leaked into reality. I thought that seeing him in person would bring me comfort, but it only made my loneliness stronger.

I hated it.

I hated this entire situation, and the longer it went on, the more I wanted to make the person responsible pay for it. By the time we got back to the house, my tears had dried up and were replaced with angry determination. I wanted revenge, but I had to replace the bastard first.

Alessandro and Vinny were already at the house when I arrived. We had planned to meet so that I could update them on Tallon and we could discuss the next steps.

The two of them were sitting in the lounge and drinking. Their quiet conversation died the moment I walked through the door. I didn't even look at them as they greeted me.

I walked to the dry bar at the end of the room and poured myself a shot of vodka. I downed it, then turned and took my seat across from them.

Vinny had a strange expression on his face as he looked at me, but Alessandro just looked amused.

"Hello," I said. "I'm glad you were able to be here."

"How did it go?" Vinny asked.

"I think that's obvious," Alessandro replied. "It's not easy the first time you have to visit someone in custody."

"It's never easy," Vinny said. "Were you able to learn anything useful?"

"Not really," I sighed. "Tallon is doing alright. He wants us to be careful."

"We're taking every precaution possible," Vinny said. "I keep telling him that, but he's very concerned. This whole thing has gotten into his head, he's convinced that whoever is behind this is not to be trifled with." "We aren't playing around either," Alessandro said sternly. "I know it doesn't seem like it, but I'm convinced we're getting close." He crossed his arms, and the intense look in his eyes showed how serious he was. "Tell me we've found something," I said hopefully. I leaned forward, eager to hear every detail that they could give me.

"We've run down every lead on these killings," Alessandro said, "every Russian who has been killed over the last month was involved in a Valentino killing during the war."

I locked eyes with him. Alessandro didn't flinch and his eye contact didn't waver.

"Every single one?"

He nodded. I turned my eyes to Vinny.

"We triple checked it," Vinny said. "I had to dig into a lot of old paperwork and contact an old friend familiar with the Russian side of things."

"So, every single dead Russian was involved in a Valentino killing?" I asked in disbelief.

"That's right," Vinny said.

"That can't be a coincidence," I said.

I rubbed my temples, and we all sat in silence for a few minutes while I processed what this could mean. I closed my eyes and tried to think it through.

The only sound in the room was our breathing and the soft sound of glass being lifted and set down while Vinny and Alessandro drank. I found myself wishing that I'd poured myself something more than a shot.

The implications of their replaceings were hard to miss. I didn't want to believe that someone in the family really was responsible for all these killings, but it was hard to believe that anyone else could be responsible. What if this wasn't just a set up by some stranger? What if this was a betrayal from within the family?

I felt sick at the thought of someone turning on Tallon like that.

A small voice in the back of my mind said that it was my fault. Maybe someone was so disgusted that he was marrying a Russian that they acted out like this to hurt him.

No one had said anything directly against our marriage, but that didn't mean that no one was feeling that way. Voicing that kind of opinion would not go over well with Tallon.

There was no proof of any of that, though. I tried to force the dark thoughts away. It wasn't helpful for any of us for me to think like this.

I had to replace the person responsible, no matter who they might be, and I had to bring them to justice. Uncovering their identity to the police was the only chance I had of getting Tallon out of jail. And if for some reason the police couldn't be swayed, I would make the person responsible pay myself.

I stood and walked back to the dry bar. I poured myself another shot and downed it quickly. The burn of the alcohol at the back of my throat was enough to help me refocus on the current moment.

I turned and pressed my back to the bar as I looked at Vinny and Alessandro. I made sure that when I spoke again, my voice didn't waver.

"I see three possibilities," I said. "This could be a setup as we suspected. Some third party outside of the Valentino's and the Russians could be using the old feud to stir up chaos in an attempt to seize power for themselves. I don't know who that might be, but we need to look into it. Who would benefit from both groups being destabilized?"

"There are a few options," Vinny said.

"Look into all of them," I said.

He let out a slow breath and nodded. It was a big ask, but we both knew we couldn't leave any stone unturned.

"You said three possibilities," Alessandro said. "What else are you thinking?"

"It could be an internal purge by the Russians. If there is resistance within the organization to upholding the new peace with the Valentino's, they may handle that resistance by wiping it out."

Vinny nodded gravely at my words, but Alessandro looked surprised. The idea that the Russian's would kill their own for not falling into line must not have occurred to him before.

"And the third possibility?" Vinny asked.

"We have a rogue."

A heavy silence fell over the room. None of us even wanted to entertain the idea, but it had to be addressed.

"I want those leads reexamined," I said. "Look into every relative of the people killed in those incidents, on both sides if possible. I don't care if they weren't born yet at the time. I want to know who else might be connected to this."

If there was someone in the family that was working against us, we had to replace out about it as soon as possible. Tallon had already been targeted, this could only be the beginning.

"Are you sure?" Alessandro asked skeptically.

"It could be that someone isn't happy the war ended because their personal vendetta wasn't satisfied yet," I explained. I walked over to them and sat down. "Or they just want others to suffer the same way they did. Either way, we need to know. I hope that nothing comes of it, but if we don't check it out and-"

"You're right," Alessandro cut me off. It was clear that he didn't want to talk about this, and I didn't blame him.

"I take no joy in this," I said softly. "But we have to rule it out."

"Are you sure you and Tallon didn't swap minds?" Vinny asked with a smirk. "You sound exactly like him right now."

My eyes went a little wide at his words. It was a huge compliment to be compared to Tallon, especially right now when I was so filled with doubt about my own ability to lead. I wanted to do right by the family, and I was afraid that I was going to mess this up.

"He's right," Alessandro said after a moment. "This is exactly what he would do."

"Thank you," I said quietly.

Alessandro stood and sighed deeply. "We'd better get to work. We have a lot of work to do."

Vinny stood as well, and I followed suit.

"We'll let you know the moment we learn anything," Vinny promised.

"Good," I replied. "I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to stand this. Having Tallon locked up is hard enough. Not knowing who's to blame for it is maddening."

Alessandro frowned. "I know what you mean. I want to make whoever did this pay, but I don't know who did it. It pisses me off."

Vinny nodded his agreement but didn't say anything.

"We'll be in touch soon," Alessandro said.

"Stay safe," I replied. "Don't take any unnecessary risks. We can't afford to lose you, too."

"I'm not going anywhere," he assured me. "And I expect you to call if you need anything at all."

"I will," I said.

I would do my best not to have to lean on Alessandro, but it was nice to know that he was there if I needed him.

I watched them leave, and I couldn't help but smile. They thought that I was doing what Tallon would do. That meant that I was on the right track.

My smile didn't last long though. The moment I found myself alone, my dark thoughts reemerged.

Was it really possible for me to free Tallon?

The more time passed, the more I worried that I wasn't going to pull it off. It had only been a few days, but it felt like months.

I could handle being away from Tallon if he was gone on business or something like that, but this was different. I couldn't reach him where he was now. I couldn't call him. I couldn't go to him. He had been taken from me.

As much as I didn't want to consider the possibility that all our efforts to replace the true killer might fail, I couldn't stop myself from wondering what would happen if I couldn't prove Tallon innocent.

Without him, I felt like I didn't have a place with the Valentino family. I certainly couldn't go back, so what would I do?

It didn't bear thinking about, but I couldn't help it.

I had never lived a normal life, and I didn't want to.

I wanted to be with Tallon. I would do everything that I could to make sure that we were reunited. I had to stay positive and believe that it was going to work.

If I let the doubts take over, then we were really going to be in trouble.